Top Tips for Learning Welsh successfully
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Get a tutor with experience
Before commiting to Welsh language lessons, ask your tutor about their teaching experience and qualifications.
Learning Welsh with an experienced tutor offers invaluable advantages. Their breadth of experience brings insights into the nuances of the language, cultural context, and effective teaching techniques. They can adapt to individual learning styles, providing personalized guidance and creating a supportive environment for accelerated language acquisition.
Start using the language 'in the wild' as soon as possible
Just use a few words first. Then build up your confidence by using a few more sentences week by week. If you can, find one person you can practise with - someone you can trust who won't criticise you. If you don't live in Wales or find it hard to find Welsh speakers in your area find an online Welsh conversation class.
Don't 'binge' learn
It's more effective to learn a little, often than 'binge learn' once a week. Set aside some 'me time' everyday when you do Welsh exercises, read aloud, learn vocabulary. We also highly recommend the spaced repetition technique. This involves using flashcards which repeat difficult vocabulary more frequently. Many platforms offer this flashcard based learning.
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Work on your listening skills
Watching Welsh language TV programmes with subtitles will get your ears atuned to the rhythms and inflections of the language. Have BBC Radio Cymru on in the background whilst you're driving or doing housework. This kind of 'passive listening' has a greater impact than you'd think.
Follow courses in parallel
Some of the most successful learners we've met learn using several platforms in parallel. They use an app, read a lot and have a tutor too. This will take considerable commitment but if you're going to master the language in the shortest possible time it's worth doing.
Read books for learners
We're really keen on reading at TheWelshWorks. We love the Amdani series of graded books for new speakers of the language. Seeing the language in black and white on a page with reinforce the patterns you're trying to master.
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Beware the pursuit of perfection
Learning a language is possibly the most complex thing you'll do as an adult. You obviously want to get things right when you start speaking Welsh. But don't let your pursuit of perfection hamper your fluency. Accept that you'll get things wrong when you're using the language with native speakers for the first time. But you know what? Nobody will mind. People will nearly invariably be charmed by your efforts and respond positively to you.